Monday, January 25, 2010

It was a big weekend for the Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team as they took three points from the #1 team in the country.

After the teams tied on Friday night, I was super excited to be at the Kohl Center for Saturday night’s game and I wasn’t the only one. The crowd was really hyped and loud and it was one of the more electric crowds I’ve seen over the past few seasons. Every hit or stolen puck in the first few minute elicited a large cheer.

It was also one of the most exciting, heart-attack inducing hockey games I’ve ever seen. Both teams had more than a few “coulda-should-woulda” plays with pucks sitting in front of the net or bouncing off the metal. The Badgers out-shot Denver 15-4 in the first period and it felt like the Badgers having not capitalized more than once was destined to come back to bite them.

Once again the penalty kill and power play were unbalanced. Denver was 2-5 on PP while the Badgers went 0-for-5. The Pioneers made up more than half their shooting deficit on a PP at the beginning of the second period.

Michael Davis was dominant, adding a goal and an assist, putting him over 100 points for his career. He has an incredible 24 points over the last 12 games.

The most spectacular play of the night goes to Jordy Murray who took a puck down and around the net and put the puck in on a wraparound, all while halfway falling to the ground. It was gorgeous and the look on Murray’s face was part “hell yeah” and part “I can’t believe I just did that.”

The three points on the weekend didn’t really affect the Badgers standings or their Pairwise Rankings.